Credit: Soft White Underbelly via YouTube
America’s Most Inbred Family Exposed
The man who brought America’s most infamous inbred family into the spotlight has revealed why he nearly cut ties with them after a string of troubling incidents.
Filmmaker Mark Laita offered viewers an unusual look into the lives of the Whittakers, a family living in the fittingly named town of Odd, West Virginia.
The family became widely recognized for their unconventional behavior, including barking at strangers, communicating through grunts, and frequently fleeing when approached.
Although Laita had known the Whittakers for years, he eventually reached a breaking point and considered ending contact altogether, claiming they had been “lying” to him “the whole time.”
A shocking first encounter in Odd, West Virginia
Laita first met the Whittakers back in 2004, where he was introduced to family members Ray, Betty, Kenneth, Timmy, and Lorene.
His initial visit didn’t exactly go smoothly. Protective neighbors greeted the filmmaker with shotguns, suspicious of outsiders mocking the family.
“They don’t like people coming to ridicule these people,” Laita reflected.
At the time, the filmmaker was documenting the family for his book, Created Equal, a project focused on exploring the diverse cultures and backgrounds found across America.
Though he was initially unwelcome, Laita eventually earned the family’s trust, gaining permission to photograph them and even gifting them copies of the pictures.
Years later, in 2020, he returned to learn more about their lives for his Soft White Underbelly series.
Speaking on the Koncrete KLIPS Podcast, Laita described one particular visit as being completely “out of control.”
He recalled: “There’s these people walking around and their eyes are going in different directions and they are barking at us.
“And then one guy, you would look at him in the eye or say anything and he would just scream and go running away, and his pants would fall around his ankles, and he would go running off and go and kick a garbage can. And this would happen over and over.”
In his documentary Inbred Family – The Whittakers, Laita attempted to speak with Ray, who responded mainly through grunts and gestures.
During another scene, Betty appeared confused when asked about the family’s abnormalities, while Kenneth blamed their unusual eye alignment on “coal mining.”
The Whittakers became internet sensations
Following the documentary’s release, the Whittakers gained massive online attention and became the focus of fundraising efforts organized through the Soft White Underbelly YouTube channel.
But years after the documentary first aired, a number of unsettling developments surrounding the family began to surface.
YouTuber Tyler Oliveira later visited the region while filming a video about the “poorest region of America,” interviewing the Whittakers during the process.
Laita said he was furious after hearing the family’s response to questions about the money they had received.
According to the filmmaker, Oliveira’s video, which gained more than a million views within its first 24 hours, painted him as though he had been exploiting the family financially.
The filmmaker said: “When he asked Betty ‘What happened to the money?’ and she replied, ‘I don’t know,’ come on, Betty knows exactly where the money went.
“Look at the Whittakers; their lives have improved greatly since I came into it, and that’s because I came through for them every time.”
Laita admitted he was deeply hurt by suggestions the family had seen very little of the donated funds. He claimed the family frequently requested thousands of dollars at a time, though he said it remained unclear how the money was being spent.
“She calls me every two, three weeks asking for more, and I always ask, ‘What are you doing with all this money? You’re living in West Virginia, how can you spend so much?’ And she just says, ‘I need it.’ But between her and Larry, a lot of money has flowed out of the GoFundMe, and it’s down to zero now,” Laita explained.
To address the accusations directly, Laita uploaded a Soft White Underbelly video discussing the controversy. He admitted fundraising for the Whittakers, and many of his interview subjects, had been “nothing but a headache.”
Sharing screenshots of money transfers, he added: “I’m going to discontinue my GoFundMe for the Whittakers. I probably won’t even do videos with them anymore. It’s just left such a bad taste in my mouth after all this.”
Beyond feeling unappreciated by the family, Laita also criticized Oliveira’s approach to the situation.
“That’s just social media; it’s frustrating, that’s the world we live in… They’ve received every dime,” the filmmaker commented.
The fake death scandal that made headlines
Before distancing himself from the family, Laita phoned Betty to make sure she understood he had not withheld any money from them.
Seemingly confused, she replied: “I know you’ve been giving money but I didn’t know you been getting money for the house I don’t know more.”
But the controversy surrounding the Whittakers didn’t stop there.
Larry Whittaker was later falsely reported dead after members of the family passed the misinformation along to Laita.
Believing the claims to be true, the filmmaker announced Larry’s supposed death on his YouTube channel after being told by relatives he had suffered a heart attack, according to MailOnline.
A later update revealed Larry was actually alive and had no idea rumors about his death had spread online.
In the follow-up video, Larry appeared with his daughter BJ, who admitted she had lied about his death in order to receive money. She had reportedly been handed $1,000 intended for Larry’s “funeral.”
BJ confessed: “I’m not proud of what I’ve done. I shouldn’t have done it,” puffing on a cigarette, she added: “I’m trying to get help for my drug addiction.”
Things escalated further after Laita gave Larry $700.
According to the filmmaker, Larry told him the money would be used to take BJ to North Carolina so she could begin a new life away from the family.
Laita replied: “As long as you’re taking your daughter to North Carolina to get her away from your family then I can continue my relationship with you guys, but I don’t want to be part of you guys if everyone’s lying to me.”
However, Laita later claimed Larry kept the money and never took BJ anywhere.
The reason he’s done with them
In a more recent update, Laita spoke with Larry’s cousin, Jason Whittaker, where he admitted he had finally reached his limit with the family.
“They are all lying to me so I’m done with them,” he said.
The filmmaker explained the family had already been receiving financial assistance from the state before he became involved, adding: “I don’t know what to do with them other than just walk away.”
Despite everything that had happened, Laita has since appeared to reconcile with the family after visiting their home again and receiving what he described as a formal apology.
Related Article: Inside America’s Most Inbred Family And How It All Started
Related Article: Man Who Made America’s Most Inbred Family Famous Reveals One Thing That Still Haunts Him
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